All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,14

of them linked except for the signatures in the way their bodies are left behind. The chests carved open and their hearts removed with precision. The women have a lily planted in the open cavity and the men have dirt sewn into the chests. All of the victims are left with a scripture from the Bible, referencing men of God.

And the Devil.

“This doesn’t mean it’s him.” My voice gives away nothing, not the fear pooling in my stomach or the way my heart is pounding in my chest.

Nathaniel Morningstar Graves may be Lips’ brother but he’s also a threat to everyone who wishes to continue breathing. I have no doubt that he would kill me and my family without a second thought if he so much as suspects we have become a threat to his blood.

He’s not on my list to look into for a reason and Atticus is risking us both by digging into these murders.

He doesn’t show any fear about the repercussions of his actions. “He’s a player on the board, if we overlook his actions purely because of fear then he has an advantage over us.”

I straighten the pages back up and place the pile back onto the table. “He already has the advantage. He’s the Devil. There is no stopping him.”

Atticus shrugs. “The Devil is only the name he has chosen for himself. He’s still a man and can be taken out if handled correctly.”

I sigh.

I can’t help it, I can’t help but feel as though he’s trying to force me to choose and there are a lot of things I would choose Atticus over but my family isn’t one of those things. He should know this already and the fact that he’d even try this pisses me off.

Unless there’s more at play here. “Why would you want to take him out? What exactly has he done to you?”

Atticus stares at me, assessing my every breath. I think half of the reason I’ve become so good at reading people is because I’ve tried to see what he sees when he looks at me this way.

The other half would be surviving Joey and Senior.

“He’s a serial killer. Have you suddenly become tolerant of criminals who kill dozens, if not hundreds, of people?”

I try not to show my irritation at him. Of course, he brings up my father, brings up the hell that was my childhood dealing with a man who enjoyed collecting girls and women to rape and torture to death.

Am I so sure Nate is different?

No. I’m really not, but it isn’t my decision. Lips gave me all the time I ever needed to decide on my blood, how could I possibly offer her less than that?

“Ash has killed for me, and I know that there isn’t some magical number that he would stop at just for the fear of killing too many people. The Wolf has killed dozens at least. The Butcher hundreds for sure. How many men have you killed, Crow? How many deaths have you ordered? I’m not sure you should throw stones.”

The corners of his mouth turn down at me calling him Crow again but that’s exactly what I wanted to happen. I want it to be a direct hit because he needs to remember that he’s not innocent here. Just because he’s righteous in his own mind that doesn’t make it any better.

Lips has always killed for a reason.

Illi has too, for money or for love. Why is that any different than Atticus?

I slowly push the file back over to him. I’ve read the contents and there’s nothing in there that I couldn’t find for myself if I needed to. He stares at me for a second but even though I just woke up, I’m too tired to deal with this anymore.

“I’ll see you out.”

He sighs and stands up. “We can’t be friends anymore?”

I scoff at him, the derision dripping from my tone. “I don’t want to be your friend. I have never wanted that and, frankly, I don’t think the Crow of Mounts Bay has friends. He has people that he cultivates alliances with, people that are useful to him. I am no one’s pawn, not even yours.”

I start towards the door but I can’t help but see the smirk on his face that chips away at the ice casing on my heart. “Floss, you don’t have friends either. You have family and pawns. You think I don’t know that you vetted the Wolf before you let her in? We’re